Pastor, Professor, Pilgrim: An Interview with Derek W.H. Thomas

Tabletalk: If you could discuss theology with any theologian from church history, who would it be and why?

Derek W.H. Thomas: That would have to be John Calvin. I spent a good part of my life reading his material for doctoral studies, and I have many things I would like to ask him, not least of which would be his opinion on which biography best captures him. A man who could write the first edition of the Institutes in his late twenties, after only being a Christian for a few years and with no seminary education, is a phenomenon in itself. Particularly, in his communication with Westphal on the nature of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper, I would want to ask him precisely what he meant when he wrote, “By the secret virtue of the Holy Spirit life is infused into us from the substance of Christ’s flesh.”